Hi to the Group,
If you don't have an aluminum radiator or manifold, you probably won't
be interested in this and should delete the message.
Sometime last year, as you may recall, there was a conversation thread
going about trying to protect the aluminum radiators (if you happen to
own one). At that time I had just bought one (BIG $$$) and was a bit
nervous about the "corrosion pot" we call an engine eating it up. I even
went so far as to try and find a source of Magnesium rod to drop in the
surge tank to protect the aluminum. I found a source but was staggered
by the minimum purchase price order of several hundred dollars. So I
just used distilled water and 50/50 mix and crossed my fingers.
A couple of weeks ago the water pump on the Tiger started to leak around
the shaft and I was forced to pull it all apart. When I took the
radiator hose neck piece off (the piece that holds the thermostat in
place) and I just about had a heart attack. This piece was literally
just about eaten completely through in several places with general
corrosion everywhere inside with about 4000 miles on the part. The
heaviest pitting was at the bottom of the neck at the point where the
liquid is deflected upward into the hose. I immediately flushed the
radiator out with the garden hose and looked inside with a flashlight.
What did I find? A perfectly clean shiny new looking radiator. Even the
heliarc welds were clean and nice.
This got me to wondering what the metal was in this neck piece that was
more electronegative than aluminum in order to be able to protect it. I
took a hacksaw to the old piece an extracted a sample that went into the
metallurgy department here at the office. It only took a few minutes on
the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with Spectrometer (all in the
name of pure research) to determine that the metal was 91.09% pure zinc
and 8.91% aluminum. Looking at the perodic chart on the lab wall shows
zinc in the same column as magnesium and two rows below magnesium. This
says that it has the excess electrons to give up that is necessary to
protect the aluminum. I sure didn't have any idea that this was the
"optimum" part to buy when I bought it, it just looked nice.
The part is available from PEP boys under the label of DAYTONA - Mr.
Gasket Co. (made in Taiwan). Part number #9844; Water Neck with "O" ring
fits Ford 289-351W 1965-76. $12.85 Bright chrome outside.
Mr. Gasket Co.
8700 Brookpark Road
Cleveland, OH 44129
This all goes to prove that even I can get lucky every once in a while.
I bought two more of them last week (one for the car and one in the
trunk for a spare). I am very willing to replace this item once a year
to protect a major investment in the radiator (that does a great job in
keeping the Tiger running cool here in the desert). Plus it is a part
that is readily accessable and easy to change.
Cullen Bennett in Tempe AZ (B9472658) "A very Happy Camper"
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